Media Realities

Markus Heidingsfelder is an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University.Yan Bo is an Assistant Professor of Applied Translation Studies at Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University.Holger Briel is a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University.

• 1. The West is the East of the East 2. This Side of Good and Evil: Towards a Sociology of War 3. The Cat of Borodjanka: An Attempt at Media’s Real Symbol in War 4. Media and Reality. Luhmannian Perspectives on Identity, Objectivity and Truth 5. Ecological Communication Revisited: Unveiling the Role of Media in Luhmann’s Systems Theory 6. The End Game of Media Realities? Some loosely connected considerations 7. From Tabloid Sensations to Political Battleground The Rise and Fall of Lai's Media Empire 8. China Different 9. “This is China!” – The Story That Sells The Politics of Rebranding National Images in the News Media 10. Western Media Unmasked - Biases, Perversions, Hypocrisies and Harm 11. East vs. West Soft Power Tussles Understanding the Co-Construction of Media Realities in Sino-African Relations 12. Shifting Realities in Development and Social Change Theories The Role and Place of Media and Communication 13. From the Soil "Return to Dust" 14. "Solo Sunny" A Story of Solitude 15. The 2nd Interrogation 16. A New “Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere”? Seven Theses against the Widespread Assumption of an All-Powerful Internet 17. Concealment and Freedom A Study of Youth Self-Empowerment through Pseudo-Anonymity in the Douban Momo Group 18. The Evolution and Logic of China's Propaganda Model in a Global Context 19. Domestic Propaganda in the People’s Republic of China 20. The Hegemony of Linguistic Landscape Mediated Communities and Ideological Influence 21. Cute Authoritarianism

“Carefully curated and culturally sensitive, this interdisciplinary collection of essays offers new perspectives on the contemporary realities of our globalized media world.”Daya Thussu, Professor of International Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University“Media Realities is a surprisingly fresh and thoroughly intriguing mosaic of insights into the peculiar differences and samenesses of Eastern and Western media realities—probably the realities most of us today spend most of our time with in one way or another. Quite unlikely for an academic book, it’s almost a page turner, due to its kaleidoscopic and sometimes experimental approach.”Hans-Georg Moeller, Professor of Philosophy, University of Macau"Media Realities rethinks the mass media in sweeping theoretical terms—opening a space for a reevaluation of the relationship between universities, social scientists, and the media."Emily Erikson, Professor of Sociology, Yale University“Media do not merely report on reality; they create the frameworks within which it can be perceived, debated, and remembered. Media Realities reminds us—all of us—that the realities we inhabit are mediated realities: shaped, sustained, and shared by everyone. In an age when wars, crises, and politics unfold as much in their staging as in their substance, this volume calls us to reflect on the new realities of and by all." Zhao Tingyang, Professor of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences